Did somebody eat my cheese?

It was a calm afternoon. The roads were totally empty. The wind was strong and the leaves on the banyan tree were dancing to it. The noise from the swaying of the leaves was interrupted periodically by the chirping of the little sparrows. I was enjoying all this sitting in my new easy chair. Ranganayaki was busy with Gnana Bhoomi. It was a part of her routine. After a short nap, she would make herself comfortable in the pai and read at-least 5-6 pages of her favorite magazine. But soon all this came to a standstill. I could feel that there was something new in the room, probably somebody. I turned around and my eyes fell on a small creature moving near the wardrobe. “It’s a mouse”, I squealed. Ranaganayaki came running to the study room, “Enna Krishna, enna sollerael... namma aathule eli yaa..enga irrukku” (What are you saying? Mouse in our house? Where is it?)

I immediately closed the bedroom and the pooja room doors. I made sure that there was only one way out from the house and decided to drive the mouse away. I ran into the store room and grabbed a perambu (Bamboo Stick). Now it was a contest and the winner would survive in the house. The immense strength in me that was sleeping all these days had woken up. I imagined myself as Achilles and I had to win over Hector (The Mouse). Nevertheless, I was not going to kill that poor thing. I tapped the stick near the wardrobe.

There was no sound at all. The mouse was afraid. I switched on the torch light and I could see the glittering eyes underneath the wardrobe. It had cute little whiskers and was shivering in fear. Now that my enemy was in close range, I decided to attack it. I tapped the perambu, near the mouse. It squeaked and ran to the corner the room. “Anga irrukku….Aatho…Aiyoo kutti elli…paavum. Don’t hit it” shouted Ranganayaki standing on the stool. I tapped the stick again on the floor. The mouse ran and made its way through the door towards the pooja room. It couldn’t enter and then it turned around and ran for the main door. I followed it with the stick. The mouse ran and ran and finally stopped in the road.

The mouse turned around to see if I was following it. It had won the battle as it got away without any injury. Ranganayaki and I were watching it from the door. Ranganayaki would have been proud of me and even I got this feeling that I had achieved something in life. After all it’s a man’s thing! It was a win-win condition. The mouse turned again to the house, shook its head and ran off to the next house. It was probably saying “I will be back with a bang. Wait for me kishnaaa!”